I Promise
by bluegoldrose
Summary: [ended but incomplete] When Sara's 16 year old daughter comes to town, many questions are asked, trouble comes, and one man helps her through it all [GregSara]
1. Chapter 1

She was very nervous as she stepped in the front doors of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. She approached the reception desk where a woman stood on the phone, the woman motioned for her to wait a second, so she sat down and waited. She was there to see her only living family member, one of her parents. She hadn't seen that person since she was ten, so it had been six years. She was very glad that she looked older than sixteen, it helped her to get places that a sixteen-year-old wouldn't be allowed to go.

The woman behind the desk, Judy, got off the phone and asked her, "How may I help you?"

She stood, pushed her long chestnut brown hair back, and said, "I'm looking for someone."

"Is it someone who works here?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for Sara Sidle."

"I'm sorry, she's out in the field, do you want to leave a message? Oh, wait, here she comes now." Sara was walking around the corner talking to Grissom and Greg about a case when Judy said, "Sara, someone is here to see you."

Sara excused herself from the group and they stopped to wait for her. As she approached the desk the girl turned to face Sara. Sara's eyes widened and her mouth opened soundlessly. "Jennie," she whispered.

"Yes mom, I came to find you," Jennie answered.

At the words of the girl Greg, Grissom, and everyone else within hearing range turned to look at her and Sara, stunned and speechless. Sara hugged the girl and said, "I'm so sorry baby, I shouldn't have left you."

"It's ok mom, we're together again, that's what's important," Jennie replied, and both women were crying.

After a minute or so Sara turned back to her two friends, and with her arm still around her daughter she said, "Grissom, Greg, I would like to introduce you to my daughter Jennie."

Grissom swallowed hard and he said, "When did this happen?"

"Come on, we should all talk somewhere more private."

So Sara led them all into the break room, and after they were seated she continued, "I had Jennie when I was eighteen, six years ago I decided to make my career out here. I left her in the care of my aunt, I just don't know why she's here now."

"Aunt Carol is sick, so she paid for me to fly out here to see you, it was easier this way."

"Why didn't see call?"

"To surprise you, and apparently to surprise your friends too, are you mad mom?"

"No, of course not, I've missed you, I'm glad that you came out."

"Why didn't you tell any of us about her," Greg interrupted.

"It's not like she was a secret, I just didn't think it was necessary to tell everyone about her, everyone would wonder why she wasn't here too."

"Well, why wasn't she here too," Grissom questioned.

"I wanted to stay with my friends, and I was close to Aunt Carol. Plus I was in a good school that mom didn't want me to leave."

"And I wasn't settled out here. Then I became absorbed in my work. But I've called Jennie every day and I write to her every week. I've visited her when I've had the time. Which reminds me, Grissom would you mind if I took off of work for awhile, and if I went home early today?"

"Um, sure go ahead, you can leave now."

Sara smiled, and then she and Jennie left the building and headed to Sara's home.

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TBC... (If it recieves reviews...) 


	2. Chapter 2

"Are your friends going to be upset because you left me mom," Jennie asked as she sat next to Sara on a sofa.

"I don't know, probably, they won't understand why I left you and why I haven't mentioned you to them."

"Why is that, I'm not upset about it?"

"Because they're like that."

"Are you happy that I came?"

"Yes, I'm very happy, I've missed you. The last time we saw one another was when I was suspended for three months."

"I remember, it was a good time, except that you had to go to meetings. And it was over a year ago now."

"Yeah it was, and you know that I've missed you, I tell you that every day on the phone and in my letters and e-mails."

"I know, but I needed to see you again, I miss you so much mom. I want to be out here with you, I don't want to leave you again."

"All right, we'll get all of your things out here ok, I don't want to leave you again either sweetie. What about your aunt though, you said that she's sick."

"She said not to worry about her, Uncle Roger is handling everything."

"All right Jennie, then I'll make arrangements for all of your things to come out here, and somehow they'll fit in this tiny apartment, how does that sound?"

"It sounds great mom."

So Sara did just that, she called Roger, and they made all the necessary arrangements for Jennie's things to be shipped to Las Vegas. In the mean time Sara went shopping with Jennie to get her clothes, jewelry, CD's and whatever else her daughter wanted. Sara wasn't spoiling her daughter; she was trying to make up for lost time.

When all of Jennie's things arrived the next week, they found places for everything to go, with the help of Greg, because Sara had asked for his help.

* * *

Rumors were flying like crazy around the lab about Sara having a daughter, and not many of them were nice. For a change Greg was glad that Sara wasn't at work, though he missed her he didn't want her to hear what people were saying about her. She had told him that she would tell him everything about Jennie eventually, but she said that it would be awhile. Grissom also missed working with Sara, and he was just as confused as everyone else was about Sara being a mother.

Catherine was the harshest towards Sara because she thought it was inexcusable to leave your child, though it wasn't like she was doing that much to take care of Lindsey. Catherine didn't even want to hear why Sara had left Jennie, she was just mad that she would do it at all.

Nick and Warrick, though they were surprised, were supportive of Sara, and they called her while she was off. They even visited her and Jennie a few times.

After being out for three weeks Sara returned to work. Jennie was well established in Sara's house, so her mother didn't fear leaving her. For Sara it felt like everyone was being cold towards her, except for her closest friends. She was given an assignment with both Grissom and Greg, and at least with them she felt more comfortable.

Greg, as always, was very friendly towards her, and she really appreciated it. Brass and Dr. Robbins treated her no differently than they had before either. Grissom seemed to be very distant from her, which hurt, the same was true of David. The worst people though, were the ones in the lab. She came close to strangling Hodges because his comments were ruder than usual.

She had carpooled with Greg that day, and when they were in his car on the way to her apartment she broke. Through tears she asked, "Why is everyone treating me like I'm some sort of horrible person? I did what I had to do, Jennie knows that! Why can't anyone else accept it?"

Greg took his eyes off the road quickly to look over at his friend; he saw that she was crying into her hands, his heart nearly broke. "I don't judge you. I'd like to know everything about why you left her and who she is, but I don't think that you're a horrible person."

She looked over at him, and since they were at a red light he looked back at her too. "Thank you," she said, her tears slowly becoming less. "I had a fiancé when I was a senior in high school. He was actually happy when he found out that I was pregnant. But that June, shortly after graduation, he was in a motorcycle accident, and he was killed. I gave birth that October.

I went to school while supporting her and then my aunt Carol took care of Jennie when I went away to Harvard. I became a criminalist when Jennie was seven. One of my final classes was entomological criminalistics, which was guest taught for a few classes by Grissom. He was impressed by how well I absorbed information, and we even had several informal dinners. When my classes were complete I went back to work in San Francisco.

Grissom and I had kept in contact, and then when Holly Gribbs was killed he asked me to come out here. Jennie was ten at the time, and I asked her if she wanted to move out here with mommy, she and I agreed that the best thing for her was to leave her there. I moved out here, I guess it was because I was slightly infatuated with Grissom, which was dumb, I see that now. But it was also because this lab paid better, which meant that I would be able to support Jennie better.

I never stopped calling her and writing her, and like I said I saw her as much as possible. She's back in my life now, and yes I didn't tell anyone about her, but it wasn't anyone else's business, but she is here to stay and why is everyone blaming me for this." She had started to cry again, and since they had pulled into a parking spot at her apartment complex Greg rubbed her back gently with his hand. "Don't worry about it, it'll get better with time, I promise."

She looked straight into his eyes and said, "How can you promise something that isn't up to you?"

"I don't know, but I'll try," he answered. Then he leaned towards her and she to him, and their lips touched gently. They were almost afraid of the kiss, but then they kissed again, longer and stronger. But before they went too far Sara stopped the kisses.

"Greg, what are we doing," she questioned.

"I don't know."

"I think we should both have some time to think don't you?"

"Yeah, you're probably right."

She unbuckled, and then as she was going to get out she kissed him again, far more passionately then the other two times. Then she got out of the car and said, "We both need to think about this, right now isn't the best time."

"All right, well I'll see you at work tomorrow."

She smiled slightly. "See ya."

Then he drove off, as she went inside.

_

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TBC…_

_I got so many reviews! That makes me very happy! But here's the bad news, I'm on hiatus, and I won't be updating for some time, trust me I will return though!_

_Thank you, Allie'sDragon, remoob1513, Juliette7179, LadyBelle84, Goldie, Charmed-angel4, katie, ObessedTWFan, missusmesser, csifreak04, CSIFan4Life, Unlikely-to-bear-it. Gcshipper, LocoGreggo! You people gave me the most reviews that I think I've ever gotten for one chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3

Sara went inside, and she put her purse and jacket on a counter, then she saw that Jennie was on the computer. Sara smiled, and then she went stood behind her daughter.

"Hi mom," Jennie said as she turned her face up to look at Sara. Sara kissed her daughter's forehead, and then she asked, "What are you doing babe?"

"Talking to people on some message boards."

"At seven in the morning. And what do you talk about on a message board."

"Well, not everyone on the site is from this time zone, some aren't even from this country. We talk about movies, actors, and shows that we like, it's fun."

"It sounds like a chat room to me."

"It's not though. And no one is going to try and hurt one another here, it's fun."

"I'm glad that you like it." Then Sara sighed and she sat down on a chair nearby.

Jennie turned to look at her mom, she studied her for awhile with the same investigating gaze of her mother, and she said, "What's up?"

"Nothing, why?"

"You look stressed out."

"It was a rough day."

"Do you wanna tell me about it?"

Sara smiled slightly at her inquisitive child, and she said, "Well, the case I've been working on is difficult, and most of my co-workers and friends weren't being very nice to me."

"Because of me," Jennie asked. Sara nodded. "Well who cares about them. They have no right to treat you like you committed some great crime. So what if you didn't tell them about me, I don't care and neither should they."

Sara couldn't help but smile at how much her daughter was like her. "Jen, you can't be mad at them. They're hurt that I hid something from them, and I understand that. At least Greg is being supportive. The only one who is really mad at me is Catherine, which makes me mad because she totally ignores her daughter."

"Who's Catherine?"

"One of the women I work with, she is very, sure of herself I guess, and we tend not to get along. I think that the rest of my friends will get used to my not telling them in time."

"If they're good friends they will. Do you like Greg?"

Sara tried to stop herself from smiling, but she couldn't. "Yes, I like him a lot, what made you ask that?"

"You mentioned that he was being supportive, and you didn't mention anyone else's name, and you smiled at his name."

"Yeah, he's very fun, and kind, and…"

"Good looking," Jennie finished, she too was smiling.

"Yes, he is good looking."

"Do you know what school you want to send me to?"

"Where did that come from?"

"I've been thinking about it for awhile, and I know that I need somewhere to go to school in the fall."

"That's two months away yet."

"I know."

"Well, there are private schools, public schools, religious schools, expensive schools, take your pick. Or have you already done some looking?"

"There's this school nearby that I was looking at online and I really like it, it sounds really cool. It teaches based on the career path you want to follow."

"That sounds cool, but how much does it cost?"

"Well, the tuition is rather expensive, but depending on how well you place in your tests, and everything in your family, it can be cheaper."

"What do you want to study there?"

"Architecture, languages, acting, and music."

"That's an interesting combination."

"I know, but I can study them, and I love them. Though I know you'd probably want me to study science."

"No, I want you to do what you want. Your father would have loved your choices though, he was interested in those fields as well," Sara said with a wistful smile. Jennie smiled too.

"Do you think he'd be proud of us?"

"Yeah, he would be."

"Can you tell me about how the two of you met, and what he was like? I know that you've told me a lot already, but I want to know more."

"Ok. Well, we met in school, the first day of sixth grade I believe. We were friends throughout all of our school years from then on. By ninth grade we were in love with one another, we told our friends, but we were too afraid to tell one another. The next year our friends were getting tired of us being secretly in love and not saying anything, so when we were at a party we played 'truth or dare' and we told one another. After that we started dating, and he proposed to me senior year, at one of the school dances. The May before we graduated I found out that I was pregnant. He was so happy that he was going to be a parent; I was scared that I wouldn't be any good at it, but he promised that he would stay with me for the rest of our lives. A little over five weeks later he was killed in a motorcycle accident. His last words to me were as he was dying, he said 'I love you, never forget that.' And then he died. We were both accepted into Harvard. Although he loved art, acting, and languages, he was going to study law. I put going there on hold for awhile, and they still accepted me back when I was ready. You know the rest."

Jennie sat next to her mother, and she hugged her. Both of them were crying. "I think you should date Greg," she whispered. Sara laughed, and she said, "Probably."

The next day at work Greg and Sara continued to work on the same case, but Grissom put himself on a new case. Towards the end of the shift they decided to take a coffee break, so they went into the break room to sit.

"Do you want to talk about yesterday at all," Greg asked.

"Which part?"

"Um, well, in the car, at your house, before you got out."

Sara smiled, remembering the kiss. "That was some kiss."

Greg smiled too, "Yeah, well do you want to do anything about it?"

"I'm not certain," she said with a twinkle in her eyes. "What do you want to do about it?"

He leaned towards her, and he gently caressed her face with his hand, then he kissed her, and she reciprocated. When they broke the kiss, he said, "That's what I was thinking of doing with it."

"Do you have any idea of where you want to go from here?"

"Do you want to start dating?"

"Yes, I'd like that," she replied, and they kissed again. Just at that moment Nick entered the room, and after being startled for a few moments, he cleared his throat to get their attention. They looked at him rather embarrassed, and he got a cup of coffee and sat down.

"When did this start," he asked with a smile.

"Just now," Sara replied.

"Well, congratulations I guess," then his expression got more serious. "What is Jennie going to think?"

"She actually told me that I should date Greg."

"Well, I'm happy for the two of you, but we should all get back to work."

The other two nodded, and then they left the room. A few moments later Warrick entered, and Nick told him that Sara and Greg had started dating, he also was surprised but happy.

Thanks to, ObessedTWFan, jadelouise, icklebitodd, Juliette7179, remoob1513, katie, csifreak04, Unlikely-to-bear-it, CSIFan4Life, pistonsgirl074, SaraStar, MadGeorge, I loved your reviews!


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